Trader Joe's Caribbean Brown Rice & Black Beans
"No MSG added"
Contains yeast extract

Trader Joe's Vegetarian Vegetable Soup with pasta
"No MSG added"
Contains natural flavor (yeast extract)

Trader Joe's Tex Mex Brown Rice & Beans
"No MSG Added"
Contains yeast extract

Trader Joe's Low Fat Vegetarian Lentil Soup
"No Preservatives or MSG Added"
Contains modified food starch; yeast extract

Trader Joe's Northwest Territory Premium Beef Stew
"No MSG Added"
Contains autolyzed yeast extract; natural
flavorings"

Check this website that has a list with all the different names used for MSG and then spend some time checking the ingredients on your TJ'S products and see it for yourself!
http://www.msgmyth.com/hidename.htm

So, while feeling for your current situation, I decided to send a request on over to ol' Joe. Here's hoping something is done about this, eh?

Here's what was said. Hopefully the funniness and such will act as a big persuasion.

"I'm making a request on behalf of a blogger. Her nearest Trader Joe's is approximately 3 hours away. Not cool! This poor thing has been begging friends, family, acquaintances, and possibly random strangers to arrange for the pick up and delivery of her favorite Joe's goodies.

That's dedication, Joe.

I say bring the poor girl some awesomeness and drop a Trader Joe's on her doorstep. I'm sure she'd be grateful... AND, if she's rich, you guys could benefit from that. I have a feeling she'd be a big spender. Thing big, guys. Think big.

Here's a link to her blog: http://www.neatorama.com/2008/01/05/confessions-of-a-trader-joes-junki e/

Totally. You guys have to now. She NEEDS it. I think she may have an aneurysm if she doesn't get a Joe's in the near future. That could be messy."

You're welcome.

Avocado's Number Guacamole (wow! chemistry humor!)

16-ounce cans of energy drink (basically TJ's version of Red Bull) for 99 cents

Has anyone noticed that the three-cheese wood-fired frozen pizzas cost more than the four-cheese ones?

Their prices have recently been skyrocketing, though. I'm shopping more at my local grocery store (one block away).

Robert

http://www.laweekly.com/news/features/the-tastemaker/8053/

He's no longer with the company, but they've stayed very true to his vision.

-Pesto Sauce

-Mediterranean Hummus Dip (make sure it's the one with the pine nuts on the top)

Their rosemary bread is really good as well as the chicken teriaki frozen dinner bowl.

But then I found The Fresh Market. And I got a job there (TJ's never called me back). Our benefits are similar, the pay is higher than TJ's, and the discount is 20%! Our employees don't just stock shelves and ring bells. They actually MAKE THE FOOD and assist customers in menu planning, food prep, ingredient selection and substitutions, and will break down or re-package many fresh foods to suit the customer. We're foodies! We'll order practically anything special, even if the customer only needs one of a 12- or 24-pack of something. At TJ's, the shoved a piece of fudge in my one-year old's face and were out of Pirate's Booty in the same trip.

TJ's is good for a lot of things, but TFM has the magic touch.

MSG is not only bad for you, its a neurotoxin = that means its toxic to the BRAIN. Epecially in children who are still developing.

Google “MSG hidden names” and read all about this. Check out Truthinlableing or msgmyth or any of the various other sites who detail this information."

- Neurotoxin doesn't necessarily mean something is harmful to the brain. A neurotoxin is a toxin that acts on neurons, not always associated the soft tissue that is the brain. In the case of MSG, research is being conducted to see if the regular consumption of MSG leads to unhealthy increases in excitotoxicity (over-presence of glutamate in the synaptic cleft triggers apoptosis. In this case, the brain is the locale). Thus far, no large-scale scientific research has concluded that MSG is harmful for normal human consumption, even in infants. Just to put it all in perspective, even soy protein is being researched as an excitotoxin. Certain people have been shown to have severe adverse reactions to MSG, but, in general, weekly dinner from the greasy Chinese place around the corner isn't going to kill you. At least not through glutamate... I agree that correct labeling is important, but unless you're 100% certain that the company is mislabeling products (just because it says spices on the label, doesn't mean they're sticking MSG in it), you might want to lay off the caps lock... Just a thought...

And to the guy that said all the employees are attractive...no, they're not.

I can understand the longing for a good grocery store that you've grown to love. I'm from Rochester, the home of Wegmans, the best grocery store ever, and I would now need to drive at least 1 hr to get to the closest one. It's sad.

I love the sea salt brownie bites, tarte d'alsace, horseradish hummus, Chinese mustard wonton chips, vegan pea soup with mint and lemon and maryland corn and crab chowder. I have to agree that TJ's doesn't do produce (or sandwiches) very well, but we do get some unique fresh stuff that I don't see often (trimmed leeks, sunchokes, super sweet blackberries even in the winter). I also LOVE the cheap, gorgeous flowers, and sneaking up to the demo station when I get a moment to breathe.

When I started working there, I was really surprised at how low the prices are, but since there's no middle man, most of our stuff is private label, and we don't charge for shelf space (we just put things wherever they make sense, mostly), the prices make sense.

The hardest thing to explain to uninitiated customers, though, is why their favorite things always disappear or get discontinued. I had to get used to this, too. It's because we have a very limited amount of space compared to supermarkets, we like being a "neighborhood" grocery store. We are constantly getting rid of slow sellers to make room to try new items as they become available (I'd say we get new stuff weekly). Things go temporarily out of stock frequently for a ton of reasons as well, so if you don't see your favorite thing, ask a crew member and they can tell you what's up and if/when it's coming back. I've noticed that traderjoesfan.com (NOT an official site) has a nice board dedicated to disco'ed items.

A few responses to comments here:

Jason said:

"It is actually very VERY frustrating and infuriating to see Trader Joes sell themselves as this “healthy, wholesome food company” throwing around words such as “natural” and “organic,” while at the same time spiking every product with MSG to boost flavor..."

Trader Joe's doesn't bill itself as a health food store at all, though it does get mislabeled that way by others fairly often, maybe because our privately labeled products don't contain artificial colors or flavors and we carry some organic, vegetarian, and gluten free products, and have a big vitamin section, but we are definitely NOT a wholesome food store and don't pretend to be. A lot of our products are decidedly unhealthy, our giant candy and cookie section, for example. What we say is that we're "unique" or "specialty" because you can't get a lot of our stuff anywhere else. I can't respond to the whole MSG comment because I don't know if it's true or not. I don't know if MSG is normally hidden as a natural flavor. How do you know that "spices" or "natural flavoring" really mean MSG in these particular cases? I wouldn't be too shocked. I see those words on lots of things that I assume are loaded with MSG at other stores, but frankly, so many of our products are too bland and it's hard to believe that they're all loaded with MSG, which is like salt on steroids. Did you try getting a list of low sodium products from the office or demo station? Those might be a safer bet with your restrictions. Did you really do the research and find out how much MSG is in our stuff, or are you assuming? While I understand your concern and hate when companies are deliberately misleading, I've come to my own conclusion over time that TJ's isn't really that sort of company. We're smaller on purpose, and still privately owned. I think your belief that the profit is more important than the customer is inappropriate here. I've seen quite a few products voluntarily pulled from shelves due to concerns for the customer's welfare even though there was virtually no chance that we had been supplied with damaged goods (cat food from a totally different country than the one with the problems, for instance, during the cat food recall [another aside: I DID have poisoned cat food in my house, from PetSmart]). I'd like a little more proof, because that was a pretty incendiary comment, what with all the BOOs. Spices and natural flavoring do actually exist some places.

Joe said:

"also one more thought, i don’t like the way they seem to only hire 'attractive' people. I think that’s kind of regressive to give people more opportunities based on their appearance."

Maybe that's true at your TJ's (that you've given up on, oh well), but at my store we really run the gamut from hot to not, all shapes, sizes and colors. They try to hire on personality and work ethic. I'd love to believe I was hired in part because I'm cute or whatever, but I'm pretty sure that's not the case, heh.

Overall TJ's is a very good employer. I have health insurance and a retirement plan even though I'm only a part timer. I made more than twice as much at my last (desk) job, but the atmosphere is so much better overall that I don't mind the pay cut. Everyone has off days, but we really like almost all of our customers and will bend over backwards for them.

I know I sound like an ad, and I just got off work and I have to go again tomorrow, so maybe I should just relax, but that's just proof that it's a good place to work, right? It was my mom's favorite store for years, but I didn't even like it before I worked there and really saw what it's about.